Introduction

History

BVES, Le Bureau pour le Volontariat au service de l’Enfance et de la Santé, is a
non-profit organization formed in Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(former Zaire) on the 6th of March 1992 by a group of volunteers working for the
health, education and protection of children (predominantly doctors, lawyers,
sociologists, anthropologists and psychologists).

This
multidisciplinary group was motivated to come together by the sole desire to
contribute to the promotion, protection and defence of children, in particular
children who are victims of economic and social marginalization as well as armed
conflicts (including street children, child workers, children without guardians,
children in prison and child soldiers).

Working in collaboration with UNICEF, Amnesty International and other leading
NGOs in the field of human rights and children’s issues with the aim turning
existing international legal instruments concerning the rights and protection of
children into concrete action, BVES gained important experience on the ground
and in difficult conditions. Through concrete action and an intensified appeal
for the cause of children, BVES has become one of the leading Congolese
humanitarian NGOs fighting to defend children's rights in the east of the DRC.

Partners

Since its foundation, BVES has collaborated with the Congolese Ministries for
Social Affairs, Justice, Health, Youth, Education and Family, each of whom
include the protection of children in their responsibilities.

For its DDR program (to Disarm, Demobilize and Reintegrate child soldiers), BVES
collaborates with the UEPNDDR, The Executive Unit of the National Disarmament,
Demobilization and Reintegration Program (formerly CONADER, the National
Commission for Demobilization and Reintegration).

Over the last eighteen years, BVES programs have involved successful cooperation with:

UNICEF – United Nations Children’s Fund

UNWFP - United Nations World Food Program

UNHCR – United Nations High Commission for Refugees

UNDP - United Nations Development Program

WHO - The World Health Organization

MONUSCO - United Nations Mission for tMONUSCO - United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of the Congo (formerly
MONUC)

The Red Cross, Switzerland

Save the Children UK

The Human Rights section of the United States embassy to the DRC

Human Rights Watch

Amnesty International

The international secretariat of the Coalition to end the use of Child Soldiers

This cooperation has helped BVES to become an NGO exclusively devoted to the
protection and defence of children's rights, not only in the DRC but also
throughout the African Great Lakes region.

Management

BVES is managed on a daily basis by an administrative council (eight members,
four of whom are women), a program office (five supervisors, two of whom are
women) and 35 transitional structures or centres specialized in the protection
of children's rights (252 coordinators and volunteers, of which 51% are women).

Murhabazi
Namegabe is the Program Director at BVES, where he was worked tirelessly for
more than fifteen years. Under his management, BVES has attained a place of
utmost importance among Congolese NGOs involved in the protection and defence of
children within the context of war which has dominated the Democratic Republic
of the Congo since the 1990s.

Prizes awarded

Prize for the promotion of the education of children 1995 - awarded by SYEZA
(Zaire Union of Teachers)

Ambassadeur de la Main Rouge – an honorable title awarded by the international
secretariat of the Coalition to end the use of Child Soldiers in 2007

The Rothko Chapel Oscar Romero Award for human rights 2010

Best defender of children's rights in the DRC – awarded by the Sud-Kivu
Children's Parliament, 20/11/2010